(1) Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to polyamide membranes including methods for modifying such membranes by application of modifiers, including but not limited to certain oxazoline and/or thiazoline-based compounds, derivatives and polymers thereof.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Polyamide membranes have been used for decades to performing fluid separations. A classic example of such a membrane is FilmTec Corporation's FT-30™ membrane which comprises a microporous polysulfone sheet with a thin film polyamide layer. The polyamide layer is obtained by an interfacial polycondensation reaction between a polyfunctional amine monomer and a polyfunctional acyl halide monomer as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,277,344 and 5,658,460 to Cadotte et al; U.S. Pat. No. 6,878,278 to Mickols; U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,873 to Hirose and U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,404 to Chau. Methods of modifying such polyamide membranes are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,602 to Jons et. al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,964 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,853 to Mickols; U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,116; U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,897; U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,998 to Cadotte et. al.; US 2007/0251883 to Niu; U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,766 to Ikeda et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,913,694 and US 2007/0175821 to Koo et al. The entire content of each of the preceding references is fully incorporated herein. Still other methods for modifying a polyamide membrane are described in WO 2007/133362 to Mickols et al.